Prague Berlin Trip Report
 

Hi, Everybody. We returned from our short trip to Prague and Berlin Thursday night (Nov. 30). We left on KLM from Washington DC (IAD) Wednesday evening, Nov. 22. Changed planes in Amsterdam (Czech Air) and landed in Prague around 11 AM Nov. 23. Left Prague around 2:30 PM on Sunday Nov. 26, arriving at our hotel in Berlin at just before 7:00 PM. There were 4 of us, two couples, traveling together.

No major hitches on the trip--weather was better than we had prepared for. Highs in the upper 40s and low 50s. A few scattered showers the day we arrived in Prague, and a couple of hours of misty rain in Potsdam on our last full day in Berlin. Other than that, clear and cool, but not cold. Lucky.

Washington Dulles was a piece of cake--10 minutes to check in and another 10 minutes thru security. Had plenty of time to kill in the airport.

Flight to Prague via Amsterdam was fine. I lost 50 pounds last year, and that has made flying much easier. Having the personal entertainment center with plenty of movies and features to choose from makes the flight go really quickly for me. The planes were almost full, but there were a few empty seats scattered about.

No problems in AMS--landed 40 minutes early. The Czech Air flight was a few minutes late taking off because they couldn't couldn't get the boarding tube-thingy to work, but they made up the time in the air.

We had a bit of concern at the airport when we couldn't find the driver our hotel had arranged for us--turns out he was holding a sign with my first name instead of last name. (My real name is NOT Rufus T. Firefly). Pleasant drive from the airport to our hotel (20 euro plus a 2 euro tip). Driver said people are unhappy with the political situation in the Republic (sounds familiar to me). He also doesn't like all the cobblestone streets--he has to spend a lot on car maintenance and repairs. He thinks they should keep a small area of cobblestones in the middle of the city for the tourists and cover the rest (the rest of the cobblestones, not the tourists).

We stayed at the Bellagio Hotel in the old Jewish neighborhood. 5 minutes walk to the old town square--but out of all the hustle, bustle, and traffic. It is a nice hotel, and we all enjoyed our stay there. 4 stars. We normally stay in B&Bs or pensions, but because it's the off season we got pretty good deals on the hotels (about $120 a night in Prague with breakfast buffet; same in Berlin without the buffet).

Rooms were roomy--it's in an old building that they pretty much gutted, but there is some variation in room configurations. The two rooms our party had were about the same size in total, but the other couple had a larger bathroom, while we had more room in our sleeping/sitting areas.

All modern inside--bath had shower/tub with handheld sprayer that you could also hang up like a regular shower (and a shower curtain!); toilet that actually flushed well; bidet; and a nice sink. Big mirror. Nice big bed (two beds pushed together, but they were bigger than regular single beds); 2 comfy chairs; an ottoman; desk; cable TV; a couple of tables; plenty of space for clothing. View of an old church out of the double windows that opened--windows blocked out noise very well. Lots of lights around the room. You do have to insert the room card in a slot by the door to use the lights.

Hotel staff are friendly and capable--and they speak English well enough. I had asked to have a bowl of fruit and bottle of iced Bohemia Sekt in each room on arrival. All was done beautifully. The sparkling wine made a nice start to our Prague adventures, and helped energize us for that afternoon.

We had our wine, freshened up, and decided to make an orientation stroll to the Charles Bridge. When we stepped out the door I knew something was wrong--I was totally turned around and misoriented.

It turns out that a map I had printed off the internet and had been studying for a couple of weeks had the hotel on the wrong side of the street. Everything was backwards for me--I had the images of what should be where so well implanted in my brain that I remained misoriented in terms of the hotel for the entire time we were in Prague. I was OK as long as I wasn't just leaving the hotel or trying to get back to it--so I just followed someone else when leaving or returning to the hotel.

Prague is a beautiful city. We really enjoyed our stroll to the Charles Bridge--the architecture is wonderful and it's an easy city to walk (thought the cobblestones can be hard on the feet). We decided to walk along the river to the bridge instead of cutting through the old town square. It was cloudy and showers came and went, but not enough to cause any problems.

The Prague Castle complex is quite a sight from across the river. And the Charles Bridge is interesting--we were surprised at how many visitors were in the city at the end of November. At times the Charles Bridge and the other better known locations were pretty crowded; it must be a real madhouse in the summer. We walked over the bridge taking lots of photos; rubbing statues for luck; observing the various begging styles/schemes; usual tourist stuff. But I can't emphasize enough how impressive and lovely everything was on that misty afternoon.

We decided to head back to the hotel thru the old town square, and find a place to eat on the way. I'm an advocate of getting off the beaten path to find good and interesting places to eat. However, we hadn't had anything to eat except airline food that day, and I was outvoted.

So we stopped just off the main drag (Karlov) not far from the bridge headed towards the old town square--it was a pub/restaurant near a seafood place called Restaurant Reykjavik--sorry I didn't get the name of our place, but I am pretty sure the street was Liliova. We all had some beers (Krusovice, dark and light varieties. Tasty.)--dined on: beef gulash/dumplings; chicken gulash/dumplings; beef steak/fries; and beef with cream sauce/dumplings. Prices were OK for the tourist area, and the food and service were fine as well.

Glad you had a nice trip. As charming as those cobblestones can be, I have to agree with your taxi driver, they got to us after walking all day. They're uneven and hard on our feet but we survived the cobblestones and the overwhelming crowd both times we were there. You had the right idea to go in the off season. Looking forward to your Berlin report.

RTF I'm enjoying your report, especially since we were in Prague at the exact same time! Yes, we really did luck out with the weather, didn't we ...although this Miami girl was secretly hoping for snow ;)

Very nice report, RTF.

We are planning a trip to Prague. How did you like Czech Air? You quoted the price for your driver in euro. Are euro widely accepted? Thanks.

Woody

Hi, Nutella. Maybe we passed one another on Charles Bridge. The city, and especially the castle, are supposed to be especially pretty in the snow.

Woody--Czech Air was OK, but it was a short flight. We were packed in there. Acceptance of the euro depends on the business involved. We used Czech Koruna almost everywhere. Sometimes places will quote a price in Euro, but actually charge in Ks. We checked the exchange rates on such quotes and none of the places we dealt with were trying to pull a fast one.

Thanks much, RTF. Guide books can't beat up-to-date information.

Woody

To finish up our first afternoon and evening in Prague (Nov. 23):

We strolled back towards Old Town Square--it was now dark, must have been at least 4:30 PM. Watched the Saints march by at the Astronomical Clock. It was OK, but it doesn't really put on much of a show--worth seeing if you are there on the hour, but I wouldn't stand around for 55 minutes for the next show if I had just missed it.

We had seen Charles Bridge in daylight, so we decided to walk back and see what it looked like lit up a night. And we are glad we did. Not so much for the bridge itself, but the Prague Castle complex looked fabulous all lit up. By this time we were getting tired, so we headed back thru the Old Town Square and to bed.

November 24: Breakfast was included in the room price. The restaurant (not owned by the hotel) is in the basement--nicely decorated. Typical Central European buffet with eggs prepared 3 ways; sausages/bacon; cold cuts; cheeses; yoghurt; French toast (but no maple syrup); potatoes; tomatoes; baked beans; fresh fruit (I remember kiwi, apples, and oranges); breads; sweet rolls; cereals; various beverages, etc. It was tasty and filling.

We try to do "must-sees" as early in a trip as possible, and we had all agreed that Prague Castle was the highest rated must-see. So we bundled up and headed out. Soon we were unbundling as the sun came out--it wasn't tropical, but warm enough that you didn't want to be tromping around with several layers of clothing tightly secured.

The walk to the castle was fairly easy, though once you cross Charles Bridge it's pretty steadily uphill. But we jsut adapted our pace to account for our jetlag and the beers we'd had the night before and were soon in the outer courtyard.

If you don't know much about Prague Castle, you'll note that I keep calling it a "complex." It isn't just a castle sitting on a hill like Burg Eltz or Neuschwanstein. It's a large walled, fortified area containing numerous churches, palaces, government buildings, residences, businesses, etc.

So we bought the "see everything" ticket (which does NOT include St. Vitus Cathedral). If you do get the all-seeing ticket, then you will need several hours to get your money's worth out of it. But we all wanted to see everything, so we spent most of the daylight hours there. I'm not going to describe everything we saw--it's in all the guidebooks. But here are some things that stood out:

The place is huge--have good walking shoes. The varieties of architectural styles as the complex was built up and altered over the centuries are amazing. Mrs. Fly is a huge Kafka groupie, so she was thrilled with Golden Lane (now little tourist-oriented shops) as she could have her photo taken in front of the house where he wrote for a few years. We are glad we rented the audioguides--though they do have to be returned by 4 PM, both they and the tickets to the castle are good for 2 days.

St. Vitus is one of those special churches--it is more than just a Cathedral to the Czechs; it is one of the defining icons of Czech history and culture.

I did walk up the 287 steps of the Cathedral tower. They lie about the steps--there are 287 steps to get to the top of the inside of the tower, but if you want to go around the outside for the views and great pictures, you have to climb 2 more steps, and those last two are killers.

We had a light lunch of some sort of pretty good Czech sausages sold by a vendor inside the castle. The last thing we visited was the Prague Castle Picture Gallery.

All I can say is that we enjoyed visiting every sight included in the ticket, as well as St. Vitus. There are history, architecture, great views of Prague, wonderful mosaics, statuary, art, etc. etc. etc. All in one place. For us the castle did turn out to be a must-see and I recommend it to everyone. If you don't have time to see everything, there are reduced price tickets that are not all-inclusive.

We turned in our audioguides (which were very well done) and I retrieved my driving license (left as security). When we walked to the castle we came across Charles Bridge onto Mosteca Street, then up to Malostanske, and on to the main outer square of the castle via Ke hradu Street from the southwest.

We decided to go the other way on the return, down the steps of Zamecke schody--it was now getting dark (probably 4:30 PM) so lights were making everything quite atmospheric and romantic as our weary legs took us, hooray, downhill. We hung a right at the foot of the street passing St. Nicholas Cathedral and back to Charles Bridge.

We spent quite a while taking night photos of the bridge, the lighted castle, the river, and the pretty little square on Kamapa Island that you can see over the south side of the western end the bridge. Looked very nice with all the trees covered in lights.

Hunger and thirst had overtaken us by this time, so we discussed where to go. We all wanted a traditional Czech pub--my choice was Pivnice U Rudolfina, on Krizonnicka up in the general direction of our hotel, however the other 3 were hungry and wanted something right now, so we headed for another known and still pretty authentic pub nearer Charles Bridge.

Well we got there in about 4 minutes, walked in and were overwhelmed by the thick cigarette smoke--unfortunately, I have asthma, so there was no way we were going to dine there, though it was an interesting place. So I finally got my way (jeez, life would be so much easier if everyone would just do what I want in the first place!).

Off to Pivnice U Rudolfina--it isn't really all that far to walk anywhere in the Old town and we were there in 15 minutes or so including stopping for window shopping and general country hick gawking at things.

We really enjoyed Pivnice U Rudofina. People were smoking, but it wasn't a thick blanket, so no problem. Excellent Pilsner Urquell on tap, food was very good. For about $14 each including tip: 7 beers 1/2 liters, 1 mineral water, and 4 full meals.

The other couple is somewhat younger than Mrs. Fly and myself (about half our age) and they wanted to hit the modern Prague night life. So we all went back to the hotel to rest a while. At around 9 PM they left to hit the Face-to_Face Club, while the Mrs. and I decided to take a random stroll and perhaps have a nightcap somewhere.

We headed south towards Old Town Square and found the little spot that has a strange statue of Kafka sitting on the shoulders of a big guy with no hands or head. Across the way was a likely looking pub called the Kolkovna apparently after the street it's located on.

We went in and liked the feel of the place, but there was no place to sit. We could have gone downstairs to the restaurant, but we wanted someplace where we could see outside. So we left and went in search of another spot.

We walked around for about 20 minutes--saw several nice places but none really hooked us. We found ourselves back in front of the Kolkovna and there was a table right at the window, so back in we went. We had a couple of good unpasturized pilsners on tap and a sampler of Czech pub food--pate, ham, sausages, etc. Mrs. Fly also had the mushroom soup. Both the sampler and the soup were very good.

Walking back to the hotel, we went the long way around the hotel block and came upon a fairly new Korean restaurant just a few doors down the street from the hotel (Mrs. Fly is Korean). It looked good and we chatted with one of the employees for a while. We didn't go back there to eat as we have plenty of good Korean restaurants in the Baltimore/DC area.

OK, tired, leg-weary, foot sore. To bed.

Enjoying your report.

Woody

Tagging for the Berlin section. Nice report!

I did forget to mention that on the way back to the hotel on our first night, we decided we would like some coffee and something sweet. We stopped at "Coffee Heaven" on Parizska--a Central European chain, but it was pleasant enough, with friendly service. The coffee and pastries were good--paid about $8.50 for 2 coffees and 2 pastries.

November: 25, Saturday.
Had the buffet breakfast. Got a report on some of Prague's nightlife from the youngsters. A place called Face-to-Face had been recommended to them. Ostrov Stvanice 1125 (Island in the middle of the river). That night the crowd seemed to be mostly drunk teens sporting sagging, baggy pants and baseball caps on backwards. This did not appeal, so they went to another recommended club, Mecca. This suited their tastes somewhat better. Though it seemed a bit behind the times, they did meet some interesting people (both Czechs and other tourists) and had a good time.

We walked thru the city to the Powder Tower and Municipal House. It took us a while as this was designated window shopping day. Took quite a few architecture photos. Stores were pretty expensive--which we expected for this area of Prague. But half our party derived enjoyment from looking at shoes, and clothes, and jewelry, and stuff.

Mrs. Fly and I wanted to see the Mucha Museum, but the others were museumed-out after Prague Castle the day before. They went exploring while we enjoyed Mucha's posters and other art works. We paid about $12.50 total for entry and guidesheet. It's a very nice museum if you are at all interested in Art Nouveau. I'm more of a Deco guy, but I must admit the Mucha's works are impressive. Enjoyed it quite a bit.

We had agreed to meet at the Wenceslas Statue at the southern end of Wenceslas Square. That whole area is very touristy now--T-shirt shops, fast food, etc. But given it's place in history and the number of buildings with interesting architecture, it's worth taking a stroll down there.

Everyone was hungry by that time, so we took a few photos and headed up the square (really more of a broad boulevard). Found a Christmas Market around the top of the square and looked around a bit before some in the group started to complain about hunger--there were several touristy looking places there, and I suggested we move on to someplace away from the tourist crowds (though the crowds weren't terrible). Outvoted, we plopped down outdoors at a pizza place with outdoor gas heaters.

It was fine, not too expensive and OK pizza. It filled our bellies well enough. Bruscetta, 2 pizzas, and drinks cost about $30. Not bad for 4 hungry people, but I still think we could have done better if willing to tough it out and explore a bit.

We could not resist the Christmas Market and spent a good amount of time and some money there. It wasn't the greatest, but there were some booths with nice Czech crafts.

We wandered back towards Old Town Square, getting photos of the crowd of tourists at The Clock, and a peek at the Sex Machine Museum along the way. This is one museum that Mrs. Fly vetoed.

We were heading into late afternoon now (sunset at 4 PM), and we wanted to see the Decorative Arts Museum--so we split up again, with the other couple heade to Charles Bridge as they had not seen it and the castle lit up yet. We agreed to meet back at the hotel around 7 to plan dinner.

We really enjoyed the Decorative Arts Museum--at Listopadu 2, across from the Rudolfinum. It has an EXTENSIVE collection of glass, ceramics, porcelain, photography, graphic arts, clocks and watches, clothing/textiles, furniture, metal work, toys, etc. We found it very interesting and spent quite some time inside. Besides the basic collection (thousands of items), they have temporary exhibits as well. We found it well worth our time. I especially enjoyed the clocks and watches--people have been very creative over the centuries with time telling devices.

Note on this museum, when we opened the door there was a very thick curtain covering the entryway--we weren't sure whether it was open or not, but we muddled our way thru the curtain and everything was fine. We figure the curtain is to keep cold air out when someone opens the door.

We took the short walk back to the hotel, getting more ATM cash on the way (we used the Bankomat Czeski Sporitelny on Parizska street near Barock Restaurant and Bilkova street).

We rested a bit, and the 4 of us decided we were too tired to go far for dinner, so we dined at the Isabella, the restaurant in the basement of the hotel--though it is not a part of the hotel. The food was fine, though the waiter did suggest the most expensive menu selections and wines, that's not unusual. I had a very nice seafood pasta dish, and the others enjoyed their meals as well.

However, prices in the final bill did not always match what was on the menu (especially the wines)--and never in our favor--so I cannot in good conscience recommend this restaurant in concern for those of you who might not be interested in having to give your bill an in-depth audit before paying. They also said their computer was down, so we ended up paying cash--OK, but inconvenient. It also made reviewing the handwritten itemized bill more difficult.

Off to bed with aching legs--but anticipating a full morning in the Jewish Quarter and then our trip to Berlin.

Really enjoy the level of detail in your report. Thanks for your candor about places like Isabella restaurant.

Woody

Great trip report with fabulous detail Rufus. Keep it coming.

I read on TA com a post by a Prague local that said Old town square market this year is a lot better than in previous years, gotten rid of a lot of the tourist tat and have better food stands.

ttt

Up bright and early Sunday morning, Nov. 26. Well, not too early. I took it a little easy on breakfast as my belt was getting a little tight from all the pub food and beers.

Mrs. Fly really enjoys architecture, and wants to see the Dancing House , Fred and Ginger, located at Rašínovo nábøeží 80 (right by the Jiraskuv Bridge). The other couple wants to visit the Decorative Arts Museum based on our experience. So we split up once again.

Mrs. Fly and I head for the tram stop at the intersection of listopadu and parizsa. There's a news kiosk on the corner, and we pay 20Kc each for tickets good for 90 minutes on a non-workday. Tram 17 comes along in a few minutes; we validate our ticket in the machine on the tram; and head south along the river.

The tram takes only a few minutes--and there it is, all curvy and looking like a Salvador Dali creation. We taking snaps of each, when a British couple comes by and offers to take our photo together. So we have a nice shot of ourselves with Fred and Ginger in the background. I offered to take their photo and email it to them, but someone had already done them the favor earlier.

We took some more photos in the area--river, bridge, buildings, little park with statues. Then hopped a tram back north to get the entire group back together at the hotel and then head out to visit the old Jewish cemetary.

Both couples arrived at the hotel within seconds of one another. We had asked if we could check out late as we planned to leave Prague for Berlin at 2 PM. No problem. We paid our hotel bill by credit card--no problems with either the bill or the payment process.
Then off to the Jewish cemetary.

We started off in the wrong line at one of the Synagogues, and ended up walking around the block to the right one. We got tickets to see the cemetary and several buildings, museums, etc., but not the ticket to see EVERYTHING. In the immediate vicinity of the cemetary are the Pinkas and Klausen Synagogues and the Ceremonial Hall. We first went to the cemetary, and it is quite an interesting sight. Gravestones are massed in a relatively small area; leaning at all angles; some have trees that have grown around them with part of the gravestone embedded in them. Not having anyone of the Jewish faith in our group, our guidebook research came in handy to understand about stones and coins being placed on headstones, and written notes being tucked into crevices around others. One of the more interesting graves is that of Rabbi Loew who was involved with the legend of the Golem.

After the cemetary, we went thru the other buildings which function as museums and memorials--all with interesting artifacts of Jewish Prague's daily life and burial practices. The Pinkas Synagogue has a moving memorial to the 80,000 Czech Jews killed by the Nazis--all of the names are written on the walls.

Time was short by the time we finished the cemetary sights. I needed to get some cash for the trip, Mrs. Fly wanted to buy a Prague etching (we get an etching of just about every place we visit)--I had suggested that we visit a couple of nice art stores not far from the hotel the day before, but NOOOOooooooooOOOO, we had to wait around until the last moment.

Outside the cemetary, there are booths selling all sorts of Jewish and Prague items. I found one that sold etchings with a couple I liked of Prague Castle and the Charles Bridge, but Mrs. Fly wasn't sure about them. So off we went to see if we could find the stores near the hotel. Of course we failed miserably as we were rushing around--and I still was turned around couldn't find my way to anything in the vicinity of the hotel.

We ended up at the Spanish Synagogue--I looked longingly at the Kolkovna pub thinking about a nice Pils, but Mrs. Fly brought me back to reality and we entered the Spanish Synagogue gift shop to see if they might have an etching we liked. No etchings, but our other couple showed up, doggedly sightseeing to the end, to take a quick peek at the Synagogue.

With about 20 minutes left until our scheduled 2 PM departure from Prague, Mrs. Fly and I head back to the cemetary area and buy one of the etchings I had found an hour before. Back to the hotel.

I think we were all tired and happy when we got to the hotel right at 2 PM, just as our driver pulled up.

We had debated the pros and cons of train vs. car, and opted for car. Either would have worked, but the car was a little faster when you factor in that they take you portal to portal and you don't have to get cabs or public transportation to and from the stations--and it was November so not a lot of tourist traffic.

Cost was 6000 Czk (about $275), including a tip for the 4 of us. Mike's Chauffeur Service did a great job, with Mike's Uncle Jan doing the driving as Mike had to babysit that did. http://www.mike-chauffeur.cz/ Uncle Jan is a good driver--felt safe with him. And he and I conversed off and on during the drive so I got some "man on the street" insights concerning Czech history, politics, food, beer, etc.

Portal to portal the drive took 4-1/4 hours. It was interesting to see the countryside and smaller towns and cities. The area around the Czech/German border is very scenic with the mountains, and we had atmospheric fog here and there.

One of the most shocking sights was in the mountains just on the Czech side of the border. As we drove along, Rufus Jr. (the male half of the other couple) said "She probably should close her curtains living that close to the highway or she could cause an accident." I turned my head to see what he was talking about and saw a small house (or large hut) one end of which was all glass. And in the window was a very attractive woman walking around in quite sexy bra, panties, stockings, garter belt, and high heels.

Well, we all thought that a bit odd, but it takes all kinds. Less than a kilometer up the road, one of the ladies says, "Hey, that one has black light." Sure enough another glass wall hut went by--but this one had two scantily clas women posing and exposing their assets, so to speak.

Well, I hadn't done research on Czech highways, and did not realize that there are houses (or huts) of prostitution close to the German border. Germans come across the border for services that are much less expensive than in Germany. We read up on it a bit after we got home, and it seems that a few years ago it was a huge scandal as underage girls (many from states of the former USSR) were being sold into prostitution in the Czech Republic. This sick part of the trade has supposedly been cleaned up, but the Huts of Prostitution are still in business.

Crossing the border was easy--about 4 or 5 cars in front of us. When our turn came, the German border guards took our passports and directed us to pull to the side. I thought they were going to inspect our luggage, but they were stamping our passports and probably checking some sort of list to be sure we weren't criminals or terrorists or Neocon Republicans or something.

We arrived in Berlin after dark (well sunset was at 4 PM). Jan had never been to the Arcotel Velvet on Oranienburger Strasse before, so I read his map printout while he drove, and we got there without a hitch. Overall the drive was easy--no traffic tieups--the slowest part of the trip seemed to be the last few kms after leaving the Autobahn around Berlin and heading into the city. Anyway, we paid Uncle Jan, had handshakes and best wishes all around, and headed into the hotel.

Arcotel Velvet is an interesting place. It was one of several options that I posed to the group, and Mrs. Fly pushed for it because of its somewhat unique architecture and room layout. The next report installment will start with checking in at the Arcotel Velvet (which we enjoyed) and our first night and day in Berlin.

<< our guidebook research came in handy to understand about stones and coins being placed on headstones >>

Which guidebook did you find most helpful?

Thanks for a very enjoyable report.

Woody

Hi, Woody. We are partial to Michelin Green Guides for actual, on-the-spot sightseeing.

As for planning, we also use any other guidebooks and webpages we can find.

Berlin from the evening of Nov. 26 to our flight out the morning of Nov. 30.

Arcotel Velvet is easily recognizable at the top of Oranienburgerstr. just a few steps away from Friedrichstr. The rooms have distinctive ceiling to floor windows. The lobby is pleasant and spacious enough, with a nice size bar on the right as you enter, and the entrance to Lutter & Wegner Restaurant on the left (though the door is not marked as such--there is also a street entrance to the restaurant).

We were greeted politely and warmly by a competent young gentleman manning the desk. I gave him a Guten Abend, and Ich heisse in MY best German as remembered from Gymnasium and Universitat. He assured us in English that all was in good order with our reservation--I guess my accented German sort of gives me away as a non-native speaker. Well, after 1-1/2 years of junior high, 2 years of high school, and 2 years of college German, this was only the 3rd time I'd ever had a chance to use it in the past 35 years. So it's not surprising that my accent is a bit off.

Anyway, our rooms were on the 5th floor, or was it 4th with the ground floor thing? Anyway, we really enjoyed the room design with the outer wall being all window; the open bathroom design (note that the toilet is not part of the open bathroom design--it is in its own room with a door).

Our traveling companions called us up to tell us they thought they had the room for physically special people (I don't know the proper term for this month) as their sink was very long and it would difficult to reach anything.

I had not given them the details of the room layout, but decided we were all too tired to make some sort of protracted joke out of it--so I told them that they should stand at the side of the sink. And if they opened the medicine cabinet door they would find that both sides had a mirror so you could see yourself from any of the 3 sides of the sink.

There was also a full mirror on the shower/sink area wall. We had a shower/tub combo. They had just a shower. All the usual little bottles and packs of stuff were there--shampoo, lotion, cotton swabs, nail file, soap, etc. Some were cutely labeled "I am your soap" and such.

There was a mini-bar stocked with all sorts of booze, wine, beer, snacks--and a music CD you could buy, some sort of cotton gloves, plus "The Male Pill" set with a condom, and some other items that I don't remember.

Flat screen TV, CD player, radio--better lighting than most hotel rooms. Clean and modern. And a great view of the Oranienburgerstrasse pedestrian traffic, restaurants, bars, Imbiss joints (including what the youngsters said is an excellent Donerkabob place).

We were all more hungry than tired, so agreed to freshen up and rest for 45 minutes and then find a place to chow down.

Have to pause for a while. I'll be back with the story of our pleasant first meal and beers in Berlin and my brief encounters with several ladies of the evening.

OK, we all met in the lobby--it wasn't too late in the evening yet. Decided we would like a casual German meal--some beer place with schnitzels and wursts would do nicely.

The desk clerk (a different one this time) said there was such a place 2 minutes walk away right where Oranienburgerstr. meets Friedrichstr. Sure enough, just across Friedrichstr. we found the Baeren Schenke--at least that was on a sign at the door; hopefully it's the name of the place.

Looked fairly typical--bar area with several locals drinking beer, chatting, playing cards. Some were smoking, but it wasn't bad. We went thru the bar area to the tables and booths in the back.

Our host (perhaps the owner from the way he presented himself) was attentive. We all ordered beer--a couple of Pilsners, a dark, and an unfiltered wheat beer. Mrs. Fly does not ordinarily drink much beer (or much of anything since that night in 1973 which ended up with us being engaged). All were greatly appreciated.

For dinner I had pork schnitzel stuffed with cheese and ham. It came with brocolli (or broccolli, or broccoli) and very nice new potatoes. Mrs. Fly had beef goulash with fried potatoes and red cabbage. The other couple had Bratwurst/fried spuds/sauerkraut and grilled chicken breast/red cabbage/asparagus.

In addition the ladies ordered salads, which turned out to be very, very large. And there was very good bread. We ended up with coffee--and two of us had desserts. I capped things off with a Schapps. Oh, on the way to dessert we had 4 litres of beer and a bottle of mineral water.

It was all done very nicely--not Michelin star stuff, but delicious, hot comfort food. Total bill with a small tip was 63 euro, or a bit under $21 each.

When it came time to pay the bill, I presented my credit card only to find they do not take same. We only had about 40 euro among us left over from prior trips, so I asked if there was Geld machine nearby. The host indicated that there was one just a bit down Friedrichstr. So I headed out.

Fortunately it was not cold out because I could not find the ATM. However, I remembered that I had seen people at an ATM not far from the hotel on Oranienburgerstr. So I walked back to Ostr. Headed down the street (on the side opposite the hotel) past several nice looking restaurants of various types when a young woman approached me and asked if I would like some company.

Well, if I had been unmarried and a few years younger (well maybe not even a the few years younger), I might have considered it. This woman was an absolute knockout! I'm not going to give a detailed description as, being a married man, I don't really notice such things, but she could have been in Playboy with no problema.

Anyway, I explained that I was with my wife and just needed to get something and meet her (my wife) back at the hotel. The young lady smiled and excused herself politely as she moved back to her "post."

I made it to the ATM. Inserted my card, my PIN, asked for 350 euro (my bank's daily limit is $500), and was promptly rejected. Humph. I was wondering if perhaps the rest of my party might already be washing dishes. I gave it another try--same result.

AHHHHHHHH. If you had been there I'm sure would have seen the cartoon light bulb switch on over my head. I had taken out about $150 worth of Czech currency before we left Prague. DAILY limit. So I adjusted my withdrawal downward and all was well with my wallet.

So I headed back up Ostrasse. After about 1/2 block or so, two attractive young women came up beside me, one on each side (I must have looked especially dapper that evening, or they had just seen me at the ATM).

They were also polite starting with "Hello, Sir." I guess they thought I had been knighted at one time or another. Before I could let them know that I was not interested, the blonde asked if I would like to have their company for the evening, but it had to be both of them as they always work together. The brunette was kneading my upper arm, the blond posed rather provocatively (if you are into that sort of thing) in a wasp-waist cincher garment of some sort.

I quickly blurted out that I was meeting my wife at a restaurant up the street. They protested that they did not believe me, but they did let me move on alone. As I began to stumble, er walk, up the street, the blond murmured, and it really was a murmur, something like "if you are ever in Berlin on business alone we'll be glad to see you again."

Well, that's not likely as I told Mrs. Fly and the other couple the entire story when I got back to the restaurant. I doubt that I'll ever be allowed to go anywhere by myself in this lifetime.

So--good beer, good companions, good food, and an interesting street experience on the first night in Berlin.

We all returned to the hotel for a good night's sleep. As to the hotel again, I can report that the water pressure was excellent, there was plenty of hot water, the beds were comfortable (we like them firm), and the wall-to-ceiling windows did set a mood that was interesting. A diaphanous curtain separates the sink and bath area from the rest of the room. And there are 2 internet-capable PCs at the side of the bar area in the lobby. Also the bartender on duty while we were there mixed a pretty decent Manhattan.

Berlin, Monday, Nov. 27, 2006.

We had a good night's sleep and woke up a little late in the morning. We are not big breakfast eaters, so we passed on the nice, hotel buffet breakfast at Lutter & Wegner.

We went next door to Ambulance, a friendly little place with comfy chairs and ottomans--4 or 5 tables as I remember. They have many varieties of coffee, fruit drinks, cookies, pastries, etc. Several vegetarian and "organic" choices (e.g., soy milk). For 2 croissants with jelly and cream cheese, a blueberry muffin, capuccino, and a fruit power drink we paid 10 euro including a small tip.

Once our little group got together, we strolled down Friedrichstrasse to Unter den Linden and on to the Brandenburg Gate. I had read about New Berlin Tours free, 3-1/2 hour walking tour that begins at 11 AM daily outside Starbucks near the Brandenburg. It was nearing 11, so we decided to check it out.

We were impressed by the guides who showed up just before 11 (they wear red shirts to be easily recognizable), so we decided to join the walk--if it didn't turn out to be very good, we could leave the group at any time.

Turns out it was excellent. Our guide was a historian originally from New Zealand who came to Berlin to study and ended up staying. The tour covered the biggies like • The Brandenburg Gate
• The Reichstag
• Hitler’s bunker site
• The new Holocaust Memorial
• Potsdamer Platz
• The Berlin Wall
• Checkpoint Charlie
• Museum Island
• The former SS Headquarters
and much more. Our guide was entertaining, informative, and open to questions. He had a lot of historical tidbits that added a lot to our understanding of Berlin's history and culture. His rendition of how the Berlin Wall came down when it did was one highlight of the tour. We enjoyed the entire tour, but highlights included the new Holocaust Memorial; Bibelplatz bookburning site and memorials.

Sorry--was interrupted.

So, other hilites of the free walking tour: Original section of The Wall, and, for me since the last time I saw it was just before The Wall went up, Checkpoint Charlie.

Our guide made the 3-1/2 hour stroll thru central Berlin a real joy--we never contemplated leaving the tour once it started. While it was free, we gave him a good tip (as did most participants). The tour ended up on Unter den Linden near the Museum Island, and after that much walking we all agreed to go back to the hotel to rest a bit. While on the walking tour, we had passed a nice looking Christmas Market at the Gendarmen Markt and agreed to head down there after we freshened up a bit. http://gendarmenmarktberlin.de/

After a short rest, we headed down to the lobby where I asked the clerk the best way to get to the Gendarmen Markt. That's where we learned about the Kurtz Strecke fare for taxis. If you hail a cab on the street, you can go anywhere within 2 kms. for 3 euro. Great--so the 4 of us piled into a cab and headed to the Christmas Market.

The market had a 1 euro entry fee, but it was well worth it. Many Christmas Markets do have a lot of schlock and junk, but this one had many good artisans and artists displaying their hand made products. We had Gluhwein, Bratwurst, fried dough, etc. Bought some handcrafted items. Listened to the band and chorus singing Christmas songs. Pictures taken with the slightly tipsy Christmas Tree Man and a very jolly Santa. In short, a good time was had by all.

We did spend quite a while at the market, though none of us looked at our watches to see what time it was. We decided to the Reichstag Building.
BUT on the way, we knew we could not leave the area without a visit to Fassbender and Rausch both to admire their giant recreations of famous people, places, and things in chocolate, but to sample and buy as well. Among their very large chocolate creations are the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche, the Reichstag building, the Titanic, the Brandenburg Gate, and Santa Claus.

We left the store about 45 minutes later laden with chocolate gifts, and sated with free samples that took the edge off of our hunger. Walked up to the Brandenburg Gate--very prettily lit up at night, and on to the home of the Bundestag. The dome really is quite spectacular--we went to 3 wrong entrances before finding the right one. I think it was on the west side of the building--up the steps. No problem getting in (it is free) though you do go thru a thorough security screening. They take you to the roof of the building in groups by elevator.

Once up there, we walked around on the roof for a while admiring the various views of Berlin at night. Then we headed up the dome. There are separate up and down ramps spiraling around the dome. You can look down into the parliamentary chamber (open government; legislators be warned--you are being watched). At the top you get a fine view of the city. The construction of the dome is also interesting--there is a shading device that can follow the sun.

We noted that within a few minutes of the time we entered the building, mobs of young teens showed up--school trips we think. Glad we got in before them, as we were getting pretty tired by now.

So back down to the street--in the park across from the Reichstag Building is a small park. On one side of the park someone had set up crosses with people's photos--apparently for people who died at The Wall; and protesting the government not bringing former secret police members to justice. At least that is what our taxi driver told us on the way back to the hotel.

We caught the cab in front of the famous and oh so expensive Adlon Hotel--rack rate from 420 to 12,500 euro a night. Anybody who is anybody visiting Berlin stays at the Adlon. So we got into our taxi and headed back to the Arcotel Velvet.

Our hunger was taken care of at the City Imbiss across the street from the Velvet--excellent donar kabobs for all.

We did take a nighttime stroll down Oranienburgerstr. down to about the Synagogue--the business ladies did not bother us or any other couples as far as we saw. I would also like to clarify that it's not as if there were herds of ladies of the evening massed along the street--just a few here and there on the side of the street with the restaurants (and ATM).

So to sleep.

By the way, except for the few scattered showers on our first afternoon/evening in Prague, we had no rain to this point. Weather cool, evenings briskm days partly cloudy to partly sunny--none of us got cold as we dressed in layers and were sure to have an outer layer that could resist any breezes.

Berlin, Tuesday, Nov. 28.

We woke up around 8:30 AM--Ambulance for breakfast. We both had Bio-museli cereal and croissant. For drinks I had a latte macchiato and Mrs. Fly some sort of a health/bio/organic/pyramid power fruit drink. 11 euro with a small tip.

The Pergamon Museum was at the top of everyone's list of things we wanted to see in Berlin. So once we got everyone up and fed, we took the pleasant and easy walk down Oranienburgstr. and Praesidentenstr., along the river and across one of the bridges. We crossed to the island near the Altes Museum and National-Gallerie, took a few photos and headed to the Pergamon.

We spent 4 hours in the museum. It is utterly astounding. The recreations of ancient temples, walls, buildings along with the sheer volume and variety of statuary, utensils, tools, and other artifacts is overwhelming. I am always in awe of what human beings from 2,000 to 6,000 years ago were able to accomplish without powered machinery. Intelligence, ingenuity, persistence, and the ability to marshall large numbers of people to a particular task can go a long way.

This is an absolute must-see museum--even if you don't spend 4 hours or more as many people do. Just viewing the highlights like the Pergamon Temple, Gates of Ishtar, and the Market Gate of Miletus is well worth the price (30 euro for 2 adults and 2 students).

We all ran out of energy around 2 PM--constant walking and standing, going up and down steps, and oooing and awwwing take a lot out of one. We skipped the display of Islamic Art--just too hungry and tired.

The hotel had recommended a couple of places near the museum island, so we headed for one of them: Brauhaus Georgbrau, Spreeufer 4, along the river just across the Rathausstr. bridge.

A very pleasant place--clean; shiny copper brewing equipment. We all went with small Georgbraus as we still had a lot of sightseeing to day. Very tasty. For our late lunch, 2 of our group had Brandenburg Bratwurst with mustard and brown sauce, Sauerkraut, and potatoes. Another had just a nice salad and potato soup with sausage. I ordered the special--Eisbein (boiled leg of pork) with Sauerkraut, mashed peas and boiled potatoes, a small beer and a schnapps, for € 9,99.

Everyone enjoyed their food, but my dish was definitely the hit of the meal. Never tasted better, more tender, succulent ham/pork. I gave everyone a taste and then had to beat them back away my plate. I would definitely return here--though in the summer I could imagine it being very crowded with its nice location along ther river. There is a statue of St. George and the dragon in the little square by the restaurant.

Leaving the restaurant, we headed back across the Museum Island--by the time we crossed the island (6 minutes?) the individual who only had salad and soup declared that she was hungry and needed (not wanted, needed) a Bratwurst on a hard roll. Fortunately, we had seen a Christmas Market along Unter den Linden not far from the river.

This was a free Christmas market, and was pretty good, though not as good as the one at the nearby Gendarmenmarkt. This one had more kids rides--ferris wheels and such. HOWEVER, it did have a wonderful Wurst stand, where our hungry Kamaradinen was able to assuage her "need" for a Bratwurst on a hard bun. Interesting to note: She used catsup on her Bratwurst. I would have thought this a sacreligous act that could result in at least life without parole--however, on closer observation we did find some younger Germans who were also using catsup. Maybe a fad among the teen set in Berlin, or a sea change in German food culture? The rest of us made do with fried dough and roasted chestnuts.

We were all quite tired and full of food and drink, so we hailed a cab and headed west to K'damm, the Kaiser Wilhelm Church (Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche), and Ka-De-We, Kaufhaus Des Westins (Ka-De-We), the largest department store in Europe. Taxi--10 euro, and a very interesting conversation with the driver who made me use my ancient German; the more I used it the easier it got.

The Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche. It was getting dark now (after 4 PM), so we did not go into the church or the annex. The Kaiser Wilhem Church was largerly destroyed in WWII. The Germans decided not to repair it, rather to leave the remains as a reminder of the horrors of war. A modern church was built next to it, including a cross made using nails from Britain's Coventry Cathedral which had been destroyed by German bombs. A very moving sight.

Guess what? Another Christmas Market next to the church! Yea!!!! No more food this time, however some shopping was done to the further expansion of our Mastercard bill. This market had a mix of regional, national, and international goods for sale. Small and some of the merchandise was very nice.

The avenue to Ka-De-We was nicely decorated with many lights, trees, etc. and the streets were crowded with shoppers. Our first sight of Ka-De-We included the store windows decorated for Christmas. I'm not sure that Xmas purists would have been especially thrilled with the displays.

The windows had beautifully decorated Christmas trees--unique color combinations and decorations. However on a closer viewing, the dressed mannequins were somewhat short of traditional. Female mannequins were dressed quite provocatively--instead of visions of sugar plums dancing in onlookers heads, it would be closer to whips, chains, and bodice-ripping romance novels. We found it interesting (we are all pretty much Buddhists or other sorts of heathens).

The store is big. Big. The two couples had different goals--us for Christmas stuff, the younger set for clothes and shoes. So we separated and agreed to meet on the food floor in an hour and a half.

Ka-De-We does have it all. Mrs. Fly and I were interested in Christmas decorations, Christmas cards, and small gifts. We did pretty well, and prices weren't bad. We bought some Made in Germany wooden tree decorations; Christmas cards; some stuffed animals (Ka-De-We bear included); "certified" bits of the Berlin Wall--some on postcards; and a few other items. I was especially on the lookout for Ampelmann goods, but nothing in the store's assortment tickled my fancy.

Back together on the food floor, we enjoyed a snack of sushi and beers. Though not the same as in Tokyo, it was pretty good. We walked around the store a bit more, then got a cab back to the hotel (10 euro) to rest before dinner.

One of our party is a big fan of southeast Asian food, and there is a Malay/Singapore/Indian fusion restaurant right across the street from the Arcotel Velvet--the Mirchi, invitingly lit with torches and gas heaters.

Service was very good, the room interesting, and the food tasty (though, according to our expert, not as spicey as in the "old country.") Amongst the group we had: Shrimp shumai, wontons, chicken saytay (the least successful dish), prawns Singapore, chicken wok (a mountain of food), and something else I can't remember the name of. All-in-all an enjoyable meal with more food than we could finish.

It was 11:30 PM when we emptied our last bottles of wine and beer. So we headed across the street and to bed.

Alas, Wednesday Nov. 29, our last full day in Berlin and Europe for this trip.

We made our last day a daytrip to Potsdam to see Frederich's Sans Souchi and other palaces. Had croissants, coffee, juice for 4 at Ambulance, then took the U-bahn to the Friedrichstr. Station. Bought an all-day group ticket good for trains/trams/buses in Berlin and Potsdam for 15 euro. It was a 40 minute trip to Potsdam--quick and easy.

In Potsdam, there was a fellow showing visitors the way to the "bus stop." Unfortunately the "bus stop" he directed us to was for the tourist buses--he worked for the company. We were not interested in a tour bus, so we had to renter the station and walk to the other side for the main municipal bus plaza. No big deal--but the 10 or 15 minute delay did end up getting us soaked when it started to rain a bit later.

Got onto the #695 bus to Sans Souchi. The bus stop at the palace is actually a few minutes walk from the bus stop--and that's when we got our first real rain of the trip (we'd only had some scattered showers on our first evening in Prague). Of course we had all neglected to bring umbrellas as the weather report had been for partly cloudy skies that day. I had my trusty fedora on--offered it to Mrs. Fly but it didn't match her outfit. Everyone was already wet anyhow.

Got up to Sans Souchi, bought tickets, milled around in the gift shop for a bit. Went out and took some real atmospheric photos around the back of the place. The views are great with everything green and misty, patches of thin fog, eerie looking ruins in the distance, etc.

The tour was in German only, but Rufus Jr. and I spoke enough German that we were able to get the gist of what the guide was saying and pass it on to the non-German speakers in the crowd (about 1/2 of the people on the tour). Also the guide was very good about answering questions from English speakers and giving summations of her spiel as the group went from room to room.

Sans Souchi is opulent--It is good to be the king. It was built as a summertime retreat. The park area is huge and contains several palaces, pavilions, servant quarters, restaurants, etc. Think if you had all the money you could possibly want and a decorating taste that included a love of lots of gold and gems and rare woods--then pack as much as you can into a very large building. Opulent is the word. It is good to be the king. Being November, the gardens were not at all in bloom, but the "front yard" was still impressive. Several acres with broad steps leading to pools, fountains, and such. It's well worth seeing.

We again hopped the bus to visit the "New" Palace (the rain had stopped). This one was built for the King's guests--the University of Potsdam is nearby. We were all feeling a little bit hungry by now, and there was a little cafe right by the entrance to the New Palace. We stopped and 2 of us had potato soup with sausage, while the other 2 had cake and apple strudel, with bottled water and coffee for 18 euro.

As with Sans Souci Palace, the tour was in German, so our dimly remembered high school and university German came in handy. This palace is the ultimate guest house. In terms of spaciousness and the opulence of decor, it sure beats the spare bedroom of the Firefly's domicile. Again, we enjoyed the tour, but frankly I was feeling a bit weary (somewhat too much liquid refreshment the night before) and was not totally tuned in at this point.

I do remember one absolutely mad room (The Grotto Hall) with the walls entirely covered in minerals, semi-precious stones, and fossils, plus shells and other treasures from the sea. It's good to be the king.

We were in Potsdam from around 11 AM to 4:30 PM, including travel to and from the train station and seeing the two palaces. You could easily spend a couple of days in Potsdam as there's a LOT more to see than what we saw. But it was a very pleasant afternoon trip--even with the rain.

We mostly dozed on the train back to Berlin. Walking back to the hotel from the station along Oranienburgerstasse we saw a sign advertising a Karl Langerfeld photographic show. The women decided we should see it, so we went in. It didn't cost much. Apparently Karl was in love with some young American guy and took lots of photos of him in and out of various outfits and against various backgrounds. It was interesting, but not something I'd go back to see again. Finally got back to the hotel at around 6:15--warm showers, a bit of rest, and then to dinner around 7:30.

None of us wanted to go very far, so we asked the desk clerk if he could recommend a nice place nearby--not a German restaurant, we'd been gorging ourselves on German dishes for 3 days. He recommended an Italian place just about 3 blocks away on, as I remember, Hannoversche Strasse--under 5 minutes walk from the hotel if not counting store window gawking time.

It was called something Rossa--I think red horse or red stallion or red rider. Something equestrian at any rate. We have their business card, but I haven't been able to find it--I'll post the actual name and full address when I find the card. Because we really enjoyed this restaurant.

It might have partially been because it was our last night on this trip, but we just had a grand old time. Upon entering the place we were warmly and robustly greeted by the owner. The place was pretty full and we might have been the only tourists in there except possibly for the people who were speaking Italian at a nearby table.

All of the staff (I'm not sure they were all Italian, but I am sure they were not German--at least the ones who waited on us) were very upbeat, smiling, gracious, and welcoming. We were able to quickly arrange drinks (3 Prosecco with Holunder Sirup and 1 Camapari and soda). A couple of toasts and a few laughs later our wonderful appetizer platter arrived.

I must note that English was not really spoken by any members of the staff we encountered--but with our few words of German, their few words of English, hand gestures, smiles, and a couple of drawings, we managed to have a great meal. Not quite sure what each and everything we had was, but it was all delicious and none of it was moving on our plates.

Anyway, we had ordered 4 different appetizers that came out on one platter for us to share. All excellent. For the main courses we had: Pasta with lamb sausage (melted in my mouth, and so savory); ravioli with truffles; a wild boar special of the evening; and pasta with mushrooms, crayfish, and garlic sauce. Again, all excellent. Had a nice wine Novelle d' Montepulciano to accompany the meal. For dessert, panacotta with strawberries, affogato al cafe, and pistachio tartufo--plus coffee.

The food was great, and the service attentive, warm, and friendly without being obtrusive.

I have to go now, will finish this later.

Wow! What a wonderful report! Just read it in its entirety. Don't know how I managed to miss it before.

Thank you for taking the time to share this with us. I enjoyed Berlin, too, and I absolutley love Prague. Two excellent choices.

Your children are so very lucky to have had the opportunity to travel with you and your wife. It sounds like the two couples traveled together very well.

Looking forward to seeing the pictures. :)

Aha, the Italian restaurant our last night in Berlin was "Cavallino Rosso" -Hannoversche Str. 2
tel 030 - 27 90 83 14

Among the appetizers we had were tomatoes with fresh mozarella (Insalata Caprese); marinated artichokes; tuna canape-type things.

Mrs. Fly and I only paid for the booze, so I don't know what the final bill was. But pasta dishes were around 10 to 12 euro and seafood generally 15-20 euro. I don't remember any individual dish on the menu being over 20 euro.

Families with young kids: They also have a children's menu.

And a lunch menu with items ranging from under 5 euro to around 8 or 9 euro. Plus a lunch special with either appetizer and main dish or main dish and dessert (both followed by an espresso) for about 12 euro.

GREAT report - I really enjoyed it. I realize this is relative, but did you feel like you had enough time in Prague? Your itinerary was made of sights we would like and at a good pace - were you satisfied with the amount of time your spent there? We too would spend just about a full day at the castle complex and would spend a lot of time at the decorative arts museum . . . I'm in the VERY VERY early stages of planning a trip and I'm trying to get a grip on how much time we would spend in this beautiful city.

Thanks for sharing your trip with us!

Hi, Margo.

I think given the time of year we were traveling that 3 days were fine for Prague. If it had been warmer weather, we probably would have wanted to add a day trip or two.

We actually moved at a fairly relaxed pace in Prague--we didn't "schedule" anything, we didn't start out at the crack of dawn each morning, and if someone felt tired or needed to rest for a bit we didn't hesitate to stop for a while for a cup of tea or coffee or a beer or just a breather.

We did a lot of gawking and window shopping when walking from place to place as well.

4 full days would have been better, but 3+ days was just fine for our group.

Thank you - that is exactly the type of information I was looking for. I usually schedule days so we know when things are open and can group activities together no matter where we go, but I do want our Prague trip to be a relaxed pace like yours. Thanks for answering me!

When I left off above, we had just finished a very pleasant dinner on our last night in Berlin. We strolled through the area for about 45 minutes on a meandering route back to the hotel--window shopping, taking in the architecture in the area, observing the night life around us. Nothing from this walk stood out, but it was a pleasant evening walk.

Before we'd left the hotel to go to dinner, I'd called KLM to see what time we should arrive at the airport (Tegel). Was told at least 2-1/2 hours before scheduled flight time--which would have us arriving at Tegel around 8 AM. So I told the crew to meet in the lobby at 7:45 AM. This was not greeted with much enthusiasm as no one wanted to leave Berlin to start with, and we had been rather relaxed about getting started in the mornings up to now.

I was in the lobby at around 7:30 to settle the bill and have them call a cab. There was bit of a problem with the bill as it didn't give us our internet discount rate for the last two nights of our stay. The desk clerk caught the error and corrected it with some computer fiddling. I had excess euro, so I paid part in euro and the rest with credit card. They called a cab and we and our luggage piled into a Mercedes and off to the airport.

Arrived at Tegel in about 25 minutes--a little over 2 hours before flight time. I like the way Tegel is set up--you're dropped right at your gate. It's not a large airport and it's easy to move about, though there isn't much moving about to do as you are at your gate when you enter the place.

But when we got to the gate, they said it wouldn't be open until 1-1/2 hours before the scheduled flight time-- whoever had told me 2-1/2 hours before was mistaken. So we went to one of the snack bars and had an assortment of goodies and coffee. I visited one of the shops and bought an Ampelmann coffee cup and a set of Ampelmann cookie cutters. (The Ampelmann sugar cookies I made for Christmas were a big hit with our little group as they didn't know I had purchased the cookie cutters).

We did eventually get thru security at our gate--though one of the group had absent mindedly put a jar of German mustard into her carry-on bag--a gift for a relative. It had to be dumped (though she did find the exact same mustard in a German store in D.C. upon returning home).

The day was cloudy and there was a little rain spitting down. We got very close to take off time before they put us onto a bus to our aircraft, so I knew there was some sort of delay.

Once on the airplane the pilot announced that weather problems and a temporary radar problem in Amsterdam would delay our takeoff for up to one hour. Fortunately the delay was only 1/2 hour as we started our scheduled 90-minute flight to A'dam.

Unfortunately we began to circle as we approached Schiphol--another temporary radar problem. We only had 50-minutes between our scheduled landing and the scheduled takeoff time of our flights to D.C., so I was hoping we might get a free night in Amsterdam.

By the time we landed, got on the bus and were deposited at Pier C, it was 12:30 PM. We decided to make a run for it to the other side of the airport. Rufus Jr. dashed off ahead of the rest of us (he was, after all, an All-American athlete only 2 years ago--not to brag or anything).

Sure enough, we made it to the gate just as they were moving to close boarding--takeoffs had also been delayed by the radar problems. No free night in Amsterdam.

The aircraft was only about 2/3 full, so I left Mrs. Fly the two side seats we had reserved, and moved across the aisle to the center row where there were four empty seats--the aisle seat on the far side being the only one occupied. It was nice to be able to stretch out a bit--though I let the Sri Lankan lady in that other aisle seat take most of the space as she had already been traveling all day from Dubai.

The flight was uneventful--typical airline food. Friendly cabin crew. On demand movies and TV shows again made the flight go quickly. The 4 coffees with Bailey's Irish Cream that I had helped a lot, too. Enjoyed several non-USA films and some creative short subjects. Chatted with the Sri Lankan lady when she wasn't snoring. She was on her way to Arlington, Virginia to work as a domestic for a couple from Saudi Arabia. She was concerned about the cold weather and how she would react to it. I filled out her immigration and customs forms for her.

We landed at Dulles about 1/2 hour early--around 3:15 PM. No problems at immigration though there were a lot of people--the line moved right along. Our luggage was waiting at the carousel and we breezed through customs with only a hello and "Welcome Home" from the customs agent.

One thing I don't like about Dulles is that they do not have any private parking lots at the airport--at BWI you call the private lot when you get your luggage and a shuttle is usually there by the time you walk out the door. And they drop you right at your car.

Since we were in the public long-term lot we got to wait about 15 minutes before a gold lot bus came along--fortunately we had a parking space right by one of the parking lot stops because it was raining.

We knew that returning to the D.C. area in mid to late afternoon would mean we would have to fight rush hour traffic on the way home to central Maryland. And it was just gawd awful! Adding to the rush hour mass was construction on the airport highway and on the Washington Beltway, plus a couple of bad accidents.

It normally takes us about 1-1/4 hours to get from Dulles to Westminster, Maryland--after 1-1/4 hours we hadn't even made it half way. So we stopped at a Japanese/Korean restaurant we know and let the traffic sort itself out while we had sushi, tempura, tea, and sake.

Arrived home around 8:30 PM. Tired but still with a glow from our trip memories.

These are the places and things that stick out in my mind--that does not mean that all the other sights and experiences were not worthwhile; these are just what stuck with me the most.

Both hotels, the Bellagio in Prague and the Arcotel Velvet in Berlin, had good service, up-to-date rooms with more than adequate space, and excellent locations. I recommend them whole-heartedly and we enjoyed our stays. However, we are not normally big hotel people--we've always preferred B&Bs or smaller, family-run places. Places where we can get a feel for what it's like to actually live in a real, typical dwelling of the area--even if only for a few days. We enjoyed the hotels, and they certainly have certain advantages and extras we don't normally get at B&Bs, but we missed what, for us, are the advantages of the smaller places.

We enjoyed our car ride from Prague to Berlin--Mike's Chauffeur Service did a great job at a reasonable price, and we had some interesting experiences along the way (as well as some enlightening commentary from Uncle Jan now and then). It's the first time we've hired a driver--always used rental cars and trains before--and we enjoyed it for this particular situation.

While we mostly walked in both cities, public transportation was easy to use and reasonably priced.

Cabs in Berlin are a pretty good deal, especially if you have 3 or 4 people in your party. And the trunk of a Mercedes cab can easily carry luggage for 4--if 3 of the 4 use carry-on size suitcases.

Tegel is a very manageable airport with a very "user-friendly" design, at least it was for us on our travel day.

It's hard to find a bad beer in Prague or Berlin--they may exist, but we didn't find them in spite of frequent samplings. You might not care for a particular style of beer, but it's not because it's bad beer.

High points in Prague: Prague Castle with its various palaces, churches, lanes, musuems--and views from the Castle; Decorative Arts Museum; pub meals and beers; Mucha Museum; museums and cemetary in the old Jewish quarter; wandering around and enjoying the architecture--old and new.

High points in Berlin: Our room at the Velvet--comfortable but different from other hotels; Eisbein and beers at Brauhaus Georgbrau and pork schnitzel and beers at Baeren Schenke; Gluhwein and Bratwurst at the Christmas markets; the Ka-De-We experience; brushing up on my German with the cab drivers and desk clerks and anyone else I could find with patience; Kaiser Wilhelm Church; the free 3-1/2 hour city walking tour; the new Holocaust memorial; the Pergamon Museum; Potsdam/Sans Souci; book burning memorial; fun dinner at Cavallino Rosso--my newest favorite Italian restaurant outside of Italy and the USA.

Sharing the experiences with a couple about 30 years (MORE or less) younger than us, and seeing through their post-1970s eyes as well as our own post 1940s eyes (and vice-versa).

And as corny as it may be, meeting nice people in both cities--people who were willing to help without our asking; share some of their life experiences across the bar over a couple of beers; and to turn what would have been a wonderful tour of the sights into a memorable life experience.

RTF, thanks so much for a lovely trip report.

Woody

RTF,

Thanks for the report. Enjoyable as always.

If you don't mind, I have a couple of questions:

Did you eay any currywurst in Berlin?

Did your younger friends make a side trip to Dresden?

Bird

Hi, bird.

No the currywurst--I'm allergic to cumin, so I can't eat anything with curry.

As to Dresden, there was so much to see and do in Berlin that they decided to visit Dresden on a future trip. They had "read" somewhere that there wasn't that much to do in Berlin but changed their minds pretty quickly after the first day.

Tagging for future use.....

Great report. Tagging for use for my trip!

Topped for Sir911

RTF-

In retrospect, if you could have added a couple of days to your trip, would you add them to Prague or Berlin?

Tough one, Bird, but looking back I would say Berlin. There is just so much to see and do in the city.

However, if we'd been there in a warm weather month, I might opt for Prague because there are several day trips I'd like to make in that part of the Czech Republic.

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